What happened between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel at the 2019 F1 Canadian GP?

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel shared a healthy rivalry when the latter was with Ferrari. The two were good friends. However, something rather different took place during the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix, and as Formula 1 heads up there for the race this weekend, it would be perfect to reminisce about that memory.

During the race, Vettel qualified on pole, and Hamilton was right behind him on P2. The two were close to being championship contenders. They shared a good battle throughout the length of the race.

On lap 48, the German went wide on turn 3, and with the Mercedes right behind him, he was supposed to stop and give it way to pass. However, that didn't happen.

Lewis Hamilton celebrating his race win at the 2019 Canadian GP (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Vettel rejoined the track unsafely, almost colliding with Lewis Hamilton. The stewards investigated this and awarded the former a 5-second time penalty for an unsafe rejoin and forcing another driver off the track.

Sebastian Vettel felt that this penalty was unfair, and though he finished ahead in the race, he was brought down to P2 because of the penalty.

After bringing his Ferrari back to the Parc Ferme, the four-time world champion swapped his finishing number board with Lewis Hamilton, indicating that he was the winner of the race since, according to him, there was no other way for him to rejoin the track. Hamilton remained the winner of the race.

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Lewis Hamilton mentioned that he didn't want to win the race with a penalty

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During the post-race interview of the Grand Prix, Hamilton was asked by Martin Brundle if he could have overtaken Vettel during the race without a time penalty, to which he replied negatively. He felt that it was getting more difficult as the race reached its end.

However, he also mentioned that he didn't want to win the race with a penalty on his competitor, as F1 quoted:

"Naturally, absolutely it’s not the way I wanted to win. I was pushing to the end to try and get past. I forced him into an error, he went wide, I had the run on that corner and we nearly collided. It’s unfortunate, but this is motor racing."

The 2019 edition of this Grand Prix is the latest when Lewis Hamilton drove himself to victory since the race was cancelled in 2020 and 2021, and Max Verstappen took the chequered flag first in 2022.